“Privacy”: Why it matters much more than you think

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:00:00 +0000

The greatest threat to privacy in contemporary America is a pervasive, shrugging indifference. Many (though not all) citizens are willing to give up a certain amount of their personal information to obtain credit cards, rent movies, post photos on Facebook and look at Web pages. After all, if you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide? At least that's the logic flitting through many minds as they prepare to order groceries online or download the sequel to "Fifty Shades of Grey" onto their Kindles.

Garret Keizer's slim, eloquent "Privacy" is a cri de coeur against this state of affairs, less a book of facts and theories than a series of provocative juxtapositions and suggestive arguments. It encourages its readers to reframe how they think of privacy before it's too late. Read it to jolt your imagination into new territory, and to understand why the privacy that many of us sacrifice so readily ought to be held more dear.

Salon.com > Garret Keizer

“Privacy”: Why it matters much more than you think